Wiimote-related damage

We've already spotted a couple of TVs (Link 1 - Link 2) get taken down by flying Wiimotes due to either overzealous gameplay or a pretty weak-sauce wrist strap, although we're leaning toward the latter. Over the last few days we've seen household collateral damage due to the strap either breaking entirely or slipping off those wearers who haven't opted for some special gloves. Our latest updates include two busted straps, one of which took out reader Rafael M.'s iPAQ hx4700 (pictured) that had sat docked adjacent to the TV, but is now obviously not more. The second strap, captured on video by residents of Cambrian House in Calgary (and now immortalized on YouTube, check it out on the next page), shows that beyond the woven exterior appears to be an easily-broken, tiny cable (similar to a fishing line) that connects to the Wiimote itself. Further, a third gamer, Elliot G., told us that his Wiimote came tearing off of his wrist while playing and took out a nearby beer glass (fortunately the can of Boddingtons appears to have been spared, as shown after the jump). So guys: until Nintendo gets this problem fixed, or you come up with a way to reinforce that strap, please make sure your gameplay area is clear of anything valuable and breakable, such as your television.

Ice cream man convicted of selling pirated copies to kids

If only we'd thought of selling pirated DVDs, CDs, and PlayStation / Xbox / PC games out of the trusty Engadget ice cream truck to the impressionable youth we've long since been pushing sweets on, but alas that scam has apparently already landed one William Agnew in the slammer. Dude got busted and fessed up to selling such wares (warez?) by the truckful -- literally -- after being caught with four thousand pirated discs. So to all you would-be software copiers out there looking to get in on the racket, remember: intellectual property theft may well get you put away, so stick to the straight and narrow and just keep on peddling sweets to increasingly sedentary obese kids with type b diabetes, ok?

Philadelphia Man Memorizes Pi to 12,887 digits

Mark Umile, 40, a fling clerk from Upper Darby, figured the problem by hand, writing down the results 1,000 digits at a time -- and then memorized the number, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

I was really proud of him that he did it, his wife, Maryann, said. I can't remember a phone number.The world record for figuring pi is 67,890 digits and was set in China, but Umile's feat eclipsed the old North American record of 10,980., the Inquirer said. Umile, however, does hold the record for memorizing 905 digits of the mathematical constant e and the first 5,544 digits of the square root of two, the Inquirer said.

"I was shocked to see such a huge python," orchard-keeper Ali Yusof told the New Straits Times in an article published beneath a picture of the captured snake, which was almost long enough to span the width of a tennis court and as thick as a tree trunk.

Villagers did not harm the snake, which was tied to a tree then handed to wildlife officials, the paper said on Friday.

Delayed convict steals car to get back to jail

DUBLIN, Jan 25 (Reuters Life!) - An Irish convict who stole a car to get back to prison after missing a weekend release deadline has been given a six month suspended jail sentence.

Trevor Doyle, 25, grabbed the vehicle after falling asleep on a bus and overshooting his stop near Shelton Abbey open prison in Arklow on Ireland's southeast coast, Wexford district court officials said Thursday.

The court, which would not reveal the man's prior conviction, also fined him 300 euros ($390) for failing to submit to a breathalyzer test.